HSTA files labor complaint over 2,200+ teachers who are owed raises

T​he Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association has filed a complaint with the Hawaiʻi Labor Relations Board against the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education after HIDOE abruptly ended discussions and declared “closed” a case involving more than 2,200 public school teachers who are owed additional service credit that should result in raises worth thousands of dollars.

HSTA’s prohibited practice complaint accuses HIDOE of bargaining in bad faith and failing to follow Hawai’i’s collective bargaining law.

The issue stems from HIDOE’s 2022 teacher salary repricing plan, also known as the compression fix, which boosted the pay for 72% of the teaching workforce by an average of $6,000. However, the plan failed to account for some educators’ previous teaching experience outside of the department.

The case began when three teachers successfully challenged the repricing plan before the HLRB after their previously credited teaching experience from the continental United States was excluded from the repricing calculation.

In late October 2024, the board ruled that the HIDOE violated state collective bargaining law by omitting those years of experience from the repricing formula. The HLRB ordered HIDOE to provide the three teachers with step increases and back pay. In early November 2024, HSTA asked HIDOE for a list of all Bargaining Unit 05 employees who were similarly affected by HIDOE’s repricing decision, as well as the steps the department was taking to comply with the board’s order.

More than six months later, in early June, 2025, HIDOE finally responded to HSTA’s queries and said the original complainants’ six years of non-BU 05 service would be incorporated into their salary adjustments, and retroactive pay for those three teachers would be issued no later than July 3, 2025. HIDOE also provided what it called “a preliminary list” of 2,221 BU 05 educators with verified teaching service outside the department, stating that the list was “subject to change” and that it “will provide periodic updates should any modifications occur.”

In late November of 2025, Circuit Court Judge John M. Tonaki issued an oral ruling affirming the HLRB’s decision and rejecting HIDOE’s appeal to overturn the board’s determination. The day of that decision, HSTA asked HIDOE to immediately begin negotiations on the issue. But HIDOE said it wanted to wait to address the issue until the judge’s written order was filed, which was issued over two months later, in February 2026.

HSTA then wrote to HIDOE, requesting a written response and a formal meeting “to discuss the department’s implementation plans and timelines, and to ensure similarly affected employees are provided salary adjustments to reflect prior teaching experience.” HSTA further requested that, if the HIDOE did not intend to act for the similarly affected employees, the department provide a written explanation and the basis for that determination.

HIDOE responded by providing copies of the personnel action forms of the three original complainants. However, HIDOE then refused HSTA’s request for its timeline and plans to implement similar pay adjustments and refused to provide updates to the preliminary list. HIDOE relied on the October 25, 2022 compression memorandum and its May 1, 2023 discrepancy deadline, and stated: “As the deadline has now elapsed, the department considers this matter closed and has complied with HLRB Decision No. 526.”

HSTA’s prohibited practice complaint, filed late last month, alleges the HIDOE refused to bargain in good faith with the union, as required by Chapter 89, the state law that covers collective bargaining for public employees.

At a minimum, HSTA’s complaint says collective bargaining law requires HIDOE “to meet at reasonable times, confer in good faith, and consult with HSTA regarding the continuing impact of Decision No. 526 on the BU 05 unit. Instead, after months of exchanges and after asking HSTA to pause discussions and/or negotiations to wait for the appeal, the DOE abruptly shut the process down by invoking a pre-decision May 1, 2023 deadline created long before the (labor) board ruled that the DOE had acted unlawfully. That was not good-faith bargaining or consultation.”

The HSTA is asking the HLRB to:

• Find that HIDOE “willfully committed prohibited practices” in violation of state labor law.
• Issue a cease-and-desist order prohibiting the department from refusing to bargain or consult about how it will implement the HLRB’s decision in this case.
• Order HIDOE to furnish HSTA with the information it has requested, such as an updated list of employees who could be affected by the HLRB’s decision, their years of prior service, salary step before repricing, salary step after repricing, and current salary step, as well as implementation plans for remedying the problem.
• Require the department to recalculate the salary adjustments for similarly situated BU 05 employees whose previous non-HIDOE experience was excluded from the repricing formula, and to provide retroactive pay with interest.
• Order HIDOE to post the board’s decision both physically and electronically for two months.

An HLRB hearing on this case has been initially set for June 5.